Langley is delighted to be celebrating its 60th anniversary. 2018 marks our diamond anniversary and is a momentous milestone in our charity’s life which started with a single project in Winchester.
Langley was founded in 1958 by a group of Christian businessmen and women who wanted to put their faith into action by providing housing and support to men coming from prison.
They recognised the need to help men adjust to life after prison in order to successfully reintegrate into society and live crime-free.
Team K, as the founders were known, recruited John Dodd, a charismatic and dynamic soldier who himself had been a Prisoner of War in Singapore.
John Dodd was Langley’s first Director General (modern day CEO) and was instrumental in growing Langley and raising its profile throughout its early years. Under his leadership, many new projects opened, a great deal of which are still in existence today.
60 years on, the vision of our original founders is still as alive today. Working with people of all faiths and none, Langley now supports over 1200 men and women per year.
Langley offers a range of services in the community, including registered care, mental health and addiction support, specialist advice and employability skills.
In addition, Langley operates in prisons across England, providing advice on housing, debt and gambling plus a behaviour change programme called ‘Challenge to Change’ through Kainos Community (one of the charities in the Langley House Trust group).
Speaking about Langley’s 60th anniversary, Tracy Wild, CEO said:
“We are really pleased that Langley has reached 60 years and continues to remain true to its mission of helping people to live crime-free lives.
“Since opening our doors, we have reached thousands of people. We are proud of all the staff who have helped to make bring about change to our clients’ lives as well as the clients themselves, many of whom have worked so hard to start afresh.
“Against the backdrop of austerity, we have been able to grow by 37% which is no mean feat in today’s climate.
“Our aim is to be here for the next 60 years and as long as there is a need to help offenders live crime-free in society.”
